Page 7 of Her Braun
"Flirting?" Gibson shook his head. "Is he getting anywhere?"
The curtain moved aside, and Gibson saw Pits grinning at the pretty Asian nurse, barely flinching as his skin was cleaned around the wound.
"Well, if it keeps his mind off of the pain... I guess there's no harm."
Mats snorted at that. "Harm?" He shook his head. "He wouldn't dare go over the line."
Gibson saw the tall male nurse preparing a tray nearby and lifted his chin in his direction. "He does look like he could handle anything coming his way."
Webb lifted his head and looked at Gibson. "Not him. That nurse, Thuy?" He blew out a breath. "She can handle it herself. My dad still tells the story of how she got a belligerent drunk under control with a pressure point."
Gibson was sure he was hearing things. "With what?"
Mats held up one hand, his fingers splayed open, and then with his thumb, he pressed on the top of his open hand. "It's a pressure point. It's like reflexology. You can use pressure for healing or for pain."
Webb snorted a laugh. "Or pleasure. Maybe Pits is trying to get a date."
As his men continued to banter back and forth, Gibson watched the way the hospital staff cleaned the wound and extracted the jagged piece of wood from his arm. Through it all, Doctor Kay Hata kept pulling his focus to her.
Well, she didn't do it, but he couldn't seem to help himself.
He'd interacted with the ER doctor a few times over the last year, but this was the first time that she'd reached out and touched him.
It was such a small thing, and he wasn't a man who went out of his way to touch others and hardly anyone touched him, unless it was a hearty slap on the back or bumping fists after a good call. That was the extent of his physical interactions with most people.
He knew that Doctor Hata must touch people all the time. Hell, she had to examine people every damn day!
So what exactly had it been that had rocked him to the core?
Was it more than just her gentle touch to this arm?
The way she gave him a gentle squeeze to connect with him?
Maybe it was the look in her eyes that reminded him of warm chocolate, of a deep emotional connection, of the scent of her skin or the taste of her on his lips and his tongue.
"Braun."
Theo bumped him with his shoulder.
"Put your tongue back in your mouth. She's coming this way."
Gibson looked at him, frowning. "My tongue isn't out."
"No?" He raised a rather eloquent brow. "Well, I suggest you pull yourself together, so you don't look like you're about to drop down on one knee in front of her."
Gibson frowned even more.
Theo turned his back as the doctor came closer, pulling off her blood-stained gloves.
"I'm not saying as if it's a bad thing. I've done it. And I'm a better man for it."
"Uh, Lieutenant Braun?"
Gibson saw her come to a stop before him and he felt his breath catch in his lungs.
Theo clapped a hand on his shoulder and gripped him in a hard, reassuring hold. "You will be, too."
Gibson wasn't at all sure of what Theo was saying, but he had other things to focus on.
